The present invention generally relates to multi-media information service centers and multi-media communication systems, and more particularly to a multi-media information service center and a multi-media communication system which provides multi-media services such as voice mail and facsimile mail services using the same line.
Presently, there are services utilizing telephones and facsimile machines, such as voice mail service, facsimile mail service, voice information distribution service, facsimile information distribution service and the like. These services have a common feature. That is, a man-machine interface (MMI) between a user and a service distribution center. The MMI makes the necessary information transmission and reception by sending a voice guidance from the service distribution center and receiving a push button signal or the like which is input from the user in response to the voice guidance.
FIG. 1 generally shows an example of a conventional multi-media communication system which provides the various services described above. The multi-media communication system comprises a multi-media information service center (hereinafter simply referred to as a center) 511 for providing the various services, a public telephone network 521, a telephone set 531 which is used by a user, and a facsimile machine 533 which is used by a user.
Conventionally, the center 511 generates voice guidance in the following manner. That is, digitally coded voice data are prestored on a hard disk of a disk drive unit within the center 511, and the voice data required for making the MMI with the user are read out from the hard disk when needed. The voice data are output on a line as the voice guidance.
When providing the voice mail and facsimile mail services on the same line, the center 511 discriminates by hardware after a call is connected whether the mode is an automatic transmission/reception mode or a manual mode. The center 511 outputs the voice guidance after recognizing the manual mode.
Next, a description will be given of an operation procedure of the center 511 when providing both the voice mail and facsimile mail services using the same line. FIG. 2A shows the operation of the center 511 when responding to a call from the telephone set 531, and FIG. 2B shows the operation of the center 511 when responding to a call from the facsimile machine 533. In FIGS. 2A and 2B, "USER FAX/TEL" indicates the user's facsimile machine 533 or the telephone set 531, "HARD" indicates to a hardware processing of the center 511, and "APPLN" indicates a software processing of the center 511.
When responding to the call from the telephone set 531, the hardware within the center 511 accepts the call and connects the line as shown in FIG. 2A. When a calling signal in conformance with the standard facsimile procedure is not received from the telephone set 531 within a predetermined time, the application software of the center 511 discriminates that the caller is a telephone set and starts to output the voice guidance. In other words, the disk drive unit of the center 511 reads out the voice data from the hard disk and outputs to the line. Thereafter, the operator of the telephone set 531 makes an operation depending on the received voice guidance so as to receive the desired service.
On the other hand, when responding to the call from the facsimile machine 533, the hardware within the center 511 accepts the call and connects the line as shown in FIG. 2B. In this case, the calling signal is received within the predetermined time, and the application software of the center 511 discriminates that the caller is a facsimile machine. Hence, the center 511 thereafter starts the facsimile procedure.
But according to the conventional multi-media communication system, the line connection between the user and the center 511 is detected by the hardware within the center 511 and the application software is informed of the detection result. Then, the application software reads out the digitally coded voice data from the hard disk by controlling the disk drive unit and the voice guidance is output on the line. Due to the time which is needed to make the above described detection and read out of the digitally coded voice data, there is an inevitable time delay from the time when the line between the caller and the center 511 is connected and the time when the caller receives the voice guidance from the center 511.
In addition, when a plurality of services are provided on the same line such as the case shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, there is a need to discriminate whether the caller is the operator of the telephone set 531 or the facsimile machine 533. Due to the time (for example, three seconds) which is needed to make the above described discrimination, there is an inevitable time delay from the time when the line between the caller and the center 511 is connected and the time when the caller receives the voice guidance from the center 511.
Therefore, there is an inevitable time delay from the time when the line between the caller and the center 511 is connected and the time when the caller receives the voice guidance from the center 511, because of the time which is needed to read out the digitally coded voice data from the hard disk and/or the time which is needed to discriminate the caller. The caller receives no sound during a time which corresponds to the inevitable time delay. For this reason, there is a problem in that the caller must wait for the voice message from the center 511 after the line connection is made. Especially when the caller is the telephone set 531, the operator of the telephone set 531 may misunderstand and think that a wrong connection is made when the no-sound state lasts for a relatively long time. Such a misunderstanding may lead to the operator disconnecting the line even though the line connection is correct.